10 The Art of Accompaniment
growth in holiness. This group accompaniment is based in a small commu-
nity of relationships whose inner formation leads to the outer transforma-
tion of local communities, cultures, and the universal church.
Both communally and one-to-one, accompaniment also involves a
purposeful direction in which one person accompanies the other towards
growth in love of God, conformity to Christ, and attention to the work of
the Holy Spirit. A relationship of accompaniment is comprised of the one
who accompanies, a priest, religious or lay person who is more experienced
in the movements and understanding of the spiritual life and properly dis-
posed to provide guidance and insight and the one accompanied, a person
who seeks to grow in holiness, integration, understanding, and discern-
ment. The work of accompaniment does not occur in a vacuum and is not
divorced from everyday life; rather, accompaniment provides formation and
transformation in Christ in and through the experience of both the one
who accompanies and the one accompanied. It is through the “joys and the
hopes, the griefs and the anxieties” (Gaudium et Spes, 1) of everyday life that
the one who accompanies guides the one accompanied in observing the
promptings of the Holy Spirit, responding with love and compassion to the
needs of others, and discovering God’s unique plan for them.
As a reflection of the action of God in salvation history, Jesus in his
earthly ministry, and of the working of the Holy Spirit in Christian tradi-
tion, accompaniment affirms the sacredness of communion and relation-
ship. Oriented towards “growth in holiness,” it takes place through a “jour-
ney in community, side by side with others” (Gaudete et Exsultate, 141).